Babies Born~September 2007 #51

Kate - I'm so sorry that things aren't going well, but it's a step in the right direction that he has organised the counselling. I hope your weekend gets better.:hug:

rainy - which website do you mean for the eggs?

bbl

Trill- The blood test was pretty horrible. But as terrible as it sounds i am pretty good at holding kids for needles. In my previous life i often had to hold a little tacker while they had a needle, or have someone hold them while i put a needle in. So i am familiar with the situation. They use a butterfly, so it's a pretty small needle. I held her on my knee and held her arm. She didn't like it at all, more the fact that i was holding her tight rather than the needle i think. They asked if i was happy holding her though, if i wasn't another nurse would have. I had a chocolate frog ready for when we finished. As soon as she tasted it, she was as happy as larry! ;) They should only have to do one needle for all the blood work. The needle isn't that bad, more the thought of it and the fact you need to hold them tight to keep them very still. The lovely Sez from BB came with me to hold Sas, so that made it easier, i didn't have to worry about 2 of them.

Kate - big hugs out to you and Sarah. Do the IL's know what's going on?

Trill - hope it is something simple like giardia.

By the sounds of it, our poos are fairly good. Pretty solid, we can often see the lump sticking out the back, if she doesn't tell us she's done one (lots of pointing, waving of hand in front of nose and saying pooey!!)

Beautiful day here, we had a lovely walk along the beach and then to the park. K saw the big kids playing on the thing that you hang on to a handle and it slides across between two platforms and she was desperate for a go. She was really good, was able to hang on all by herself with me just walking underneath ready to catch her! Constantly amazed at the things she can do!!

jaz- google modern teaching aids :)

I've seen those egg toys at big w in the younger part of the toy section :)
Still having issues here he seems to be feeding well never going more than 3hrs during the day often with a small feed in between the bigger ones which makes him only going an hour sometimes.. At night he went around 5 again last night but once again with a small top up in the middle so he sees to be feeding really well but he's still not weeing much.. He has one super wet nappy at about 6am I mean it looks like a days worth of wee in one nappy and then in his other nappies it looks like there's only one wee or none and since friddays poo we havnt had another one.. Were going to the gp tmw but I just feel so down about it all.. I've got him feeding and im trying really hard but even tho he feeds and feeds and I have heaps of milk which I know he's getting coz he's sucking well and if he comes off milk goes all over him lol but still it dosnt seem he's getting enough :( im starting to feel like there's something wrong with me.. I really don't want to bottle feed this time but it looks like im just not doing a good enough job.. Sorry for the winge just needed to get it out will let u all know how tthe gp goes tmw.. Hope everyone is well sorry I havnt read through the other posts yet...

Noni, there is NOTHING wrong with you hun! Of course he is going to have a super wet nappy after a 5hr sleep compared to during the day when he is being changed more often. Are you using cloth or sposies? The sposies are going to make a 'normal' wee seem a lot less than it would in a cloth nappy. And you have to stop thinking like a formula feeding mum too - you know you have milk, you've seen it and it's hard to rationalise that they are getting enough when you can't *see* how much they are having, but you just have to keep feeding him till he just can't fit anymore in and he will be fine

We are using disposables and its not that he has a super wet nappy after his sleep its that that seems to be close to his only wet nappy... u really have to search for wee in his other nappies n sometimes there might be one but a lot of the time he's dry.. Maybe im missing it coz they are disposable? I know im acting paranoid I just want everything to be perfect which is not possible at such an early stage lol

Sposies are meant to draw away the wee and lock it in those crystals inside the nappy to keep it dry, so if he's not a big piddler anyway, then a sposie will make it seem like he's really dry. I would go and buy some terry flats - just a dozen would do, just so you can get a better idea of how wet he is otherwise it's going to do your head in worrying about it. Of if you don't want to buy any, just get a hand towel and fold it up and put it on him like a nappy just for today and see how that goes. And also if his fontanelle isnt caved in looking and if you give his skin a gentle pinch, let it go and if it goes back to where it was straight away then he's not dehydrated at all and he's getting enough.

I also got this from Kellymom for you too;

WEIGHT GAIN:
If baby is gaining well on mom’s milk alone, then baby is getting enough. A 5-7% weight loss during the first 3-4 days after birth is normal. Baby should regain birth weight by 2 weeks. Once mom’s milk comes in, average weight gain is 6 oz/week. If these goals are not met, call your lactation consultant. More on weight gain.WET DIAPERS: 5 - 6+ sopping wet diapers per day (after 1st week).
Expect one wet diaper on day one, increasing to 5-6 by one week. To feel what a sufficiently wet diaper is like, pour 3 tablespoons (45 mL) of water into a clean diaper (if baby wets more often, then the amount of urine per diaper may be less). Urine should be pale and mild smelling.DIRTY DIAPERS: 3 – 4+ dirty diapers per day (after day 4).
Stools should be yellow (no meconium) by day 5 and the size of a US quarter (2.5 cm) or larger. The normal stool of a breastfed baby is usually yellow and is loose (soft to watery, may be seedy or curdy). More on infant stooling.OTHER POSITIVE SIGNS: After a feeding, mom’s breast feels softer and baby seems reasonably content. Baby is alert, active and meeting developmental milestones.

So try that with the nappy and pour some in and see what it feels like and he is only just 1 week old too - so it will probably start to improve from here on in too.

That's a really good idea re the nappies.. His skin seems good and fontanelle dosnt look caved in just dips a little but u have to touch it to notice.. I noticed the paed touching it when he had his check up fri so I assume its normal.. Thanx again :)

And another thing, is that because it's BM, most of it is digested and there is very little waste, so you can't compare him to Asha in that regard either.

Will try that re the wet nappy thanx heaps for the info.. Not doing well on the poo tho he pood friday which was day 6 for him and it wasn't yellow yet nothing since then either... it wasn't completely black tho like meconium kinda half way between.. I think he's ok tho he looks very healthy and we will see the gp tmw maybe he's just taking a bit longer to get everything working properly than normal..

thanks Rainy - i googled a couple of other sites last night - and there's a few places that sell them for under $10 -i just had a look at MTA - and they've got them for just under $20.

Noni, how are you doing? Just wanted to say that my W was never a big wetter, I gave up doing night nappies when he was about 6 weeks old because they were never wet. Some babies just aren't. Sounds like he is feeding beautifully, doing all the things a new baby should. Just trust in yourself girly, if he wasn't getting enough then he would be making it known.

Cally, is K a daredevil kid too? W is so reserved compared to the other kids in here - he still won't even jump of a something as low as the couch.

MD, was it H's day today? I hope everything went well and I know that she would have felt pretty and special thanks to you.

Rainy, it was sooo good to get out on the boat again. What is the smallest life jacket you can get? W has one from about 10kg but I haven't seen anything smaller so I don't think we can go out until the new baby is bigger. The only downer to the day was that I choked on a drink and wet my pants and spent ages trying to hide the wet patch from DH until it dried lmao

I have just about finished making a bookcase for Williams room. Just need to give it a quick sand and paint. I made one for the computer room but it ended up being too tall to fit in the doorway so we had to trim a few shelves off and now I need to reattach it and patch it up lol.

wow arte - that's v impressive your woodwork. when i read what you ladies get up to i realise how much i CANT do!! glad you had a fab time on the boat - lol at the pants wetting!
Noni - you are doing a good job, pls dont be hard on yourself. it is very early days and he sounds like he is getting all he needs from you... go to the gp by all means if it will reassure you but trust in yourself and your bod, you are so far along the path of bf if thats what you want... averages and stats are just that - if he is gaining at all, weeing etc he is doing well - and we all know that we KNOW when a bub is hungry. i hope despite all this pressure/anxiety you are enjoying these early days as much as poss. how is A doing? and DH? it is a v big transition in my experience...
all is well here - i am too tired to write much so will come back tomorrow. xxx

Noni - how about just folding a tissue inside the nappy, that will let you know if he has wee-ed. Keep up the good work though, I'm sure everything is going well.

Arte - sorry, I laughed at your wet pants story, how embarrassing!! K isn't really a daredevil I suppose, but she will give things a go. Actually, thinking about it, there isn't much fear there at all.

Time for me to go to bed. Hoping to have a good sleep tonight and feeling a bit more perky tomorrow, have felt very flat this week for whatever reason.

Night night!!

Asha has been really good we are really proud of her she's always kissing him and hugging she's done sweet things like bringing his dummy to him when he's crying or he's been in the swing and we will come in and his hat and mittens will be sitting on him v cute!!
We got a good wee tonight no urates and not strong smelling it went through a cloth nappy and a singlet a suit a wrap and onto the bed so looks like he saves them up a bit will be happy if he continues to wee like that.. Now to work on the poos!!
As for enjoying it I think I have got a bit caught up in it all have been feeling very down and very tired I love him to bits and am happy he's here but all this crap with his nappies and the hospital telling me to cup feed him etc has all been a bit much and made me extremely emotional and cranky.. Im trying to just relax and go with it need to start realising when im getting worked up over things that probably don't really matter.. Will still go to the gp tmw but focus more on his weight gain if he's put on weight ill be happy and no reason to think he won't have because he did last check up... thanx again for all ur support it means a lot!!

Noni i meant to say, Sas's poos were about once or twice a week for the first 4 weeks. Really different to Lu who was almost every nappy change from the beginning. You're doing a great job, keep up the good work.